Rethinking rehabilitation

Embedding person-centredness

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The AUT Person-Centred Rehabilitation Research Centre (PCR)

is a transdisciplinary research centre based in the School of Allied Health

Our aims and purpose

Our core aim is to make a meaningful difference to the long-term health and well-being of people and whānau impacted by injury, illness, or disability through transformative, person-centred rehabilitation research and knowledge exchange.

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Resources

We've collated a number of resources based on findings from our projects on our website.

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We engage in a diversity of research projects. Explore our current mahi on our website.

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Recent Submissions

Access status: Open Access ,
Strategies to Strengthen Rural Allied Health Workforce Recruitment and Retention in Aotearoa New Zealand: Evidence-Based Recommendations From Qualitative Research
(Pasifika Medical Association Group, 2026-10-23) George, Jane; Kayes, Nicola; Larmer, Peter
INTRODUCTION AND AIM: Rural and remote communities in Aotearoa New Zealand face persistent challenges recruiting and retaining allied health professionals (AHPs). Despite investment enhancing medical and nursing rural workforces, the more than 40 professional groups comprising allied health, scientific and technical collectives have received little attention. We aimed to undertake a secondary analysis to systematically develop evidence-based, actionable and context-specific recommendations to improve rural AHP recruitment and retention in Aotearoa. METHODS: We used a five-step process to translate evidence into context-specific guidance for five stakeholder groups (line managers, health organisations, recruiters, professional bodies/regulatory authorities, education providers) drawing on: a) empirical data and findings from qualitative research involving 18 AHPs with rural experience across Aotearoa; and b) targeted literature scans to identify intervention and implementation research and policy-relevant evidence from comparable rural and remote health system contexts. RESULTS: Twenty recommendations were developed and then grouped into four focus areas: 1) build workforce integration and belonging, 2) establish sustainable practice environments, 3) design career-worthy rural roles, and 4) match people, place and practice. Implementation actions for key stakeholder groups were developed within each focus area. These recommendations collectively address the three key themes identified in our original research. CONCLUSION: Successful recruitment and retention of rural AHPs requires a multifaceted, collaborative approach. Implementing these targeted recommendations can create environments where AHPs feel valued, supported and connected, ultimately improving allied health service access for rural communities.
Access status: Open Access ,
Critical Inquiry Across Disciplinary Divides: Methodological-Ethical Reflections on Conducting Discourse Analysis Across Disability and Rehabilitation Studies
(Stockholm University Press, 2026-10-16) Fadyl, Joanna; Abrams, Thomas; Fritsch, Kelly; Ingram, Megan; Gibson, Barbara E; Teachman, Gail
This article offers a methodological-ethical reflection on the challenges of conducting a Foucauldian discourse analysis across the fields of disability studies and children’s rehabilitation. Although both fields engage with the lives of disabled children, they operate through distinct epistemologies and power relations that shape interdisciplinary research encounters. Drawing on our experiences within a cross-disciplinary Canadian-Aotearoa New Zealand research team, we examine how disciplinary dominance, positionality, and divergent ethical commitments materialized within the research process itself. We show that these tensions are not merely logistical obstacles but constitutive features of cross-field inquiry that require sustained reflexivity, relational ethics, and attention to the affective labor of collaboration. Situated within existing lineages of disability studies, critical rehabilitation, and relational scholarship, the article articulates how ‘conversation as method’ emerged as one praxis through which difference, friction, and discomfort could be worked with as resources for knowledge production rather than barriers.
Access status: Open Access ,
Protocol: Vocational Rehabilitation in Generalist Community-Based Rehabilitation: A Scoping Review of Existing Supports for Practitioners
(AUT Person-Centred Rehabilitation Research Centre, 2026-10-07) Fadyl, Joanna; Idenyi, Chisom Cassandra
Objective: This scoping review will map supports, tools, training, strategies, and organisational arrangements that are documented in academic and grey literature to enable generalist community-based rehabilitation practitioners to initiate or deliver vocational rehabilitation (VR) for adults with functional limitations from injury or adult-acquired conditions. It will also describe the nature and content of each support. Introduction: Work participation is an important rehabilitation outcome, yet vocational rehabilitation is not consistently embedded within generalist community-based rehabilitation services. Practitioners often report challenges related to knowledge, confidence, resources, and organisational support for addressing a patient’s VR needs or work-related issues. Mapping the supports available to practitioners is therefore an important step toward understanding how vocational rehabilitation can be better integrated into routine rehabilitation practice. It is also needed before intervention development or an effectiveness-focused review. Inclusion criteria: Population: generalist community-based rehabilitation practitioners serving adults who have functional limitations from injury or adult-acquired conditions. Concept: supports that enable them to address work participation or VR. Context: community, outpatient, transitional, primary-care, or mixed rehabilitation settings. Empirical studies of any design and relevant grey literature will be eligible. Type of Sources: Empirical studies (any design) and grey literature sources will be included. Sources focused solely on settings or practitioners considered to be specialist VR (not generalist rehabilitation) or focused only on client-level outcomes without practitioner enablement will be excluded. Methods: The review will follow JBI methodology for scoping reviews and will be reported according to PRISMA-ScR. A three-step search will cover MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, and targeted grey-literature sources. Two reviewers will independently screen titles/abstracts and full texts following a pilot screening exercise to ensure consistent application of the eligibility criteria. Data will be charted in a piloted form, mapped descriptively, and summarised using directed descriptive content analysis. No critical appraisal is planned because the objective is to map rather than estimate effectiveness.
Access status: Open Access ,
Patient-centred Insights Into Persistent Pain After Total Knee Joint Replacement: A Qualitative Synthesis
(Informa UK Limited, 2026-09-22) Dabhilkar, Saba; Hill, Julia; Lewis, Gwyn N; Bean, Debbie J
Purpose Approximately 10-30% of people experience persistent pain following total knee replacement (TKR). Understanding the long-term experiences of pain post-TKR is crucial for optimising patient-centred care and guiding management. This study aimed to qualitatively synthesise existing research on patients’ lived experiences of persistent pain following TKR. Materials and methods A search strategy was implemented across four databases to identify qualitative studies on patient experiences of persistent pain following TKR. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklist was used for quality assessment. Data from selected articles were analysed using a thematic synthesis approach, involving an iterative process of coding, descriptive theme development, and analytical theme development. Results Eight studies were included in the synthesis, with four analytical themes constructed: (1) Unexpected symptoms and unexplained pain, leading to anxiety and distress, (2) Loss of embodiment, related to foreignness and lack of trust in the knee, (3) Lack of interest from the health system, highlighting the disconnect with healthcare providers, and (4) Facilitating acceptance of pain, describing the personal and healthcare system factors that promote reconceputalisation of pain. Conclusions Several individual and system factors are proposed that may break the cycle of pain and distress and facilitate better outcomes.
Access status: Open Access ,
Using Patient-reported Experience Measures to Evaluate a Community-based Chiropractic Outreach Programme in Rarotonga, Cook Islands
(Elsevier BV, 2026-09-04) Cade, Alice; McCambridge, Alana B; Stevens, Kirk; Baptista, Lisa; Holt, Kelly; Niazi, Imran; Marshall, Paul
Objective Community-based outreach placements provide authentic clinical learning environments yet are rarely evaluated using community-derived feedback. This study assessed an intern-led chiropractic outreach placement in Rarotonga using patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) and routinely collected case-mix data as complementary evaluative indicators. PREMs capture patients’ experience of the process of care and differ from patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), which assess clinical or symptomatic outcomes. Methods Attending adults were invited to complete a post-visit PREM survey (n=252). Survey responses were compared with intern-recorded case-mix data (n=640; 2,453 encounters). Descriptive statistics and exploratory ordinal logistic regression examined patterns in patient experience, demographic predictors, and similarity between patient- and intern-reported information. Results Patient experience ratings were consistently high, particularly for relational domains (communication and personal manner). Tāne/male gender and symptom chronicity were associated with lower reported comfort and satisfaction. Patient- and intern-reported data showed closely similar patterns overall, suggesting good alignment in documentation practices. Conclusion PREMs data provided meaningful insight into relational aspects of care and, when combined with routine case-mix records, supported pragmatic evaluation of a community-based outreach placement. Findings highlight areas for targeted refinement in communication, expectations management, and documentation practices.